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User blog:KateStrange/Ashes (Cinder Man Part 3)
Mirtul 20th-21st ~ “Ballantino and I will confront Vargas. I ask that you all concentrate instead on his army.” Of course. Erevis and Gorgoroth and I are here to support her, but this is Alejandra's fight in the end. Still, “I won't exclude him from the area of my magic,” I say. I won't go out of my way to avoid weakening him. She nods. “And I know you'll be piled with all the protective magic we can give you,” I continue, “But if it's not enough, if you fall, Alejandra, I'm going to put myself between him and Ballantino. I don't want either of you arguing.” Both of them agree to this immediately. I am still not sure Ballantino will remember, if he does see Alejandra fall. Even after the chimera took six separate bites out of her, after he lost control and ran forwards without caring whether the monster was dead or whether it was about to take a bite out of him next, he still brushed off my concerns when I first asked him to think of his own life should the Cinder Man kill his wife. It was as if her death was unthinkable to him. I almost envied his faith, except that Sarenrae did not protect Julio from Vargas, and if the goddess failed to shield the rest of the Rogaceu family I wanted to make sure that Noemia and Leao did not lose both parents in one day. One who does not see the tiger walks into its claws. A few more points of tactics are discussed, and then I ask to say a blessing. “When a forest fire comes, the wise set small fires in its path to burn the land so that the killing blaze cannot pass. We are the fires set to meet the flames of destruction. Hatred will find no fuel in our hearts, for we are already ablaze with courage and loyalty.” Alejandra says that she has made her peace with Vargas already, so that she will not be in danger of being consumed by the Cinder Man. I trust her in this, because if anyone is capable of forgiving the unforgivable it will be her. I do not trust myself. I remember Leão trying to hire me to kill Vargas, Alejandra asking me not to seek vengeance on her behalf. If she had said otherwise, I would happily have killed him in his sleep, even if he were still an officer in good standing and not a forsaken creature possessed by the fires of his own hatred. This is another reason I mean to put myself between him and Ballantino if Alejandra falls. Acting in love, to protect another, might be the only thing that could prevent hatred from burning me alive. As we rest in the Shrine to the Dead Gods and wait for the pre-dawn hours, I try to concentrate on the riddle of fire. First I fill my mind with the desire to protect my companions. I move through the list of protective spells that Erevis and I have prepared. Shields from fire, from blows and arrows, and again from fire. I stand by Alejandra as she speaks to him, waiting until the last minute to give her the Salamander's blessing. Then I become the wind. Air feeds the flame, and now air will put it out. I stretch my magic over the battlefield, feel for the breath of the army, and stop it for a moment. The flames die down. The burning walls that the Cinder Man had summoned wink out. A number of his soldiers fall. And he himself shudders ever so slightly. Gorgoroth and Erevis cut through his lieutenants. Alejandra is waylaid in her charge forwards by a horde of burning soldiers. They'll be gone soon enough, but for a moment I place myself between Cinders and Ballantino, in case he decides to cut down Alejandra's husband while she is distracted. And then she challenges the one who burns. Again. Feel the breath of the flame and draw it away, into my own windy form. More of the army falls. For a moment I lose all ego. The battle fades. I feel only the air as it forsakes this corrupted fire. “Jura!” Alejandra says, “Stop targeting Vargas!” I am not targeting him, only smothering that which burns, the ravaging fire that must be stopped, and he is part of that flame. I did not promise to spare him from that, I warned you that I would not spare him. Yet my certainty has been broken, and I hesitate. Alejandra is a friend, and she wants so badly to save this man who does not deserve it. And then I am stopped entirely, because I recognize Ballantino's spell in the instant that he completes it and the force of Reprobation cuts Vargas from Sarenrae. The fires die and the remains of his army crumble. Vargas, no longer the Cinder Man, calls out for someone or something. The Gate opens, and Erevis and I together are barely able to slow its growth, but at least it's enough to keep the Pit Fiend from stepping through. Alejandra lays claim to Vargas' soul, which makes as much sense as anything. Where did the demons come from? The Commune indicated that Cinders was an extraplanar evil, but I'd thought that was referring to its clear elemental nature. No matter. If Alejandra has claimed Vargas' soul, I will defend her claim, standing over him as he twitches on the ground to make sure he doesn't try to crawl into the Gate again. The demons who come pouring through the Gate almost manage to take him away, but together we harry and destroy them. And then in the end Vargas shrivels away, leaving only a body long-dead and left to dry in the desert air. Alejandra covers him with a cloth and leaves Erevis to pack him into the body bag. “Interesting choice of spell,” I tell Alejandra when we are back in town. “What made you change your mind?” She had been reluctant to use Reprobation on Vargas when I had mentioned it months ago. Ballantino may have cast the spell, but Alejandra would have agreed to it beforehand. “He needed to realize what he had done. Perhaps now he can find peace.” “Wherever he is, he's not being tortured by demons. I'd say that's an improvement.” She'd saved him in the end. Perhaps now, in the days that follow, she can find peace. Category:Blog posts Category:Blog posts Category:Reflection